Also, if the hippies personified the Swinging '60s, the party-hard type personified the Sensational '70s, the preppies and yuppies personified the Materialistic '80s and the grungers personified the Nasty '90s, who's personifying the 2000s?

I think it's too early to tell, but I enjoy this sort of topic just the same. Since we're thinking in cultural terms, cultural changes kind of segue' from one to another without regard to the decadenal ( is that a word? ) strictures of the calendar. I mean, the 80's really weren't "The eighties" till 84-85...just as "the seventies" wasn't most people think of the term in 1972. "The fifties" seemed to hang around till the 1963-64 period. Musta' been the British invasion eclipsing the Beach Boys and all that "do-wop" crap that really sealed it. Many say it was the JFK assasination. -- I think it'll be a few years before we can tag this decade with any concrete trends of its' own.

I think it's too early to tell, but I enjoy this sort of topic just the same. Since we're thinking in cultural terms, cultural changes kind of segue' from one to another without regard to the decadenal ( is that a word? ) strictures of the calendar. I mean, the 80's really weren't "The eighties" till 84-85...just as "the seventies" wasn't most people think of the term in 1972. "The fifties" seemed to hang around till the 1963-64 period. Musta' been the British invasion eclipsing the Beach Boys and all that "do-wop" crap that really sealed it. Many say it was the JFK assasination. -- I think it'll be a few years before we can tag this decade with any concrete trends of its' own.

Good point. I'd say that the 1950's ended in the 1963-1964 time period as you say, though I'd go along with the people who claim it was JFK's assassination that ended the period. The 1960's ended in 1973-1974, with the oil crisis and the end of American involvement in Vietnam. The 1970's ended in 1983, when the U.S. economy began to improve from the downturns that had been almost continuous since the oil crisis. And finally, the 1980's ended in 1993-1994, when the "Great Recession" ended and the economic boom began.
I guess you could say that decades have changed largely on the "3's."

I agree there's a degree of spillover from one decade to the next, but I'd say the spirit of the '80s disappeared more quickly. One cultural shift was in 1988-89, when the 'reality TV' craze began, which was a rejection of the more escapist shows of the '80s, such as MacGyver, The Fall Guy, The A-Team, Remington Steele and others.

The spirit of the '80s was definitely gone by the end of 1991. By that point, two groups of people who also symbolized the '90s -- the shrill, hard-left political correctness militants and the equally shrill, hard-right talk show hosts -- were both in full swing, and the '90s 'cultural war' had begun. Grunge, a total rejection of the '80s 'preppy' look, also hit its stride in '91. By Jan. 1, 1992, the '80s seemed long gone.

PROSA wrote: "And finally, the 1980's ended in 1993-1994..."I agree there's a degree of spillover from one decade to the next, but I'd say the spirit of the '80s disappeared more quickly. One cultural shift was in 1988-89, when the 'reality TV' craze began, which was a rejection of the more escapist shows of the '80s, such as MacGyver, The Fall Guy, The A-Team, Remington Steele and others.
The spirit of the '80s was definitely gone by the end of 1991. By that point, two groups of people who also symbolized the '90s -- the shrill, hard-left political correctness militants and the equally shrill, hard-right talk show hosts -- were both in full swing, and the '90s 'cultural war' had begun. Grunge, a total rejection of the '80s 'preppy' look, also hit its stride in '91. By Jan. 1, 1992, the '80s seemed long gone.

Interesting points. Especially with respect to political correctness - how 1990's! Actually, maybe I spoke to soon, the p.c. movement is wounded but not quite dead ....
Something which occurred to me is that decade changes may vary by region. I was thinking about the state of Connecticut, where I lived until 1997. The state enjoyed great 1980's-style properity in, well, most of the 1980's. In the second half of 1988, however, the economy went very sour very fast, and by the first few months of 1989 it was obvious to all that Connecticut was mired in a recession - soon dubbed the "Great Recession" - that was unlike anything experienced since the FDR administration. In other words, the 1980's were stone cold dead by the spring of 1989.
More than four years of sheer Hell ensued. Foreclosures and evictions abounded, real estate prices underwent rampant deflation, the unemployment rate soared into the double digits and hit an unimaginable 20% in some communities, banks failed at so rapid a pace that the FDIC had to open a branch office in Hartford, those businesses that did not go bankrupt quickly decamped to the Sunbelt, and an increasing desparate state government flailed around in a desparate search for solutions. It wasn't until late 1993 or early 1994 that Connecticut's economy showed the faintest stirrings of life, and to this day the state hasn't fully recovered
Getting back to the point of this thread, it's pretty clear that the 1990's didn't begin in Connecticut, in the context under discussion, until late 1993 at the earliest, as as noted already the 1980's ended in early 1989. The interim (horrible) period did not fall into either decade. While this is admittedly an extreme example, I am sure that other regional variations exist.

I don't think we'll be able to acurately judge the 2000s culture until the 90s become officially dated. I don't think it was till the mid-late 90s that the 80s were officially dated. Like right now it would be really hard to throw a 90s party and have people where clothes and listen to music that seems markedly different from the present culture.

I also think that culturally, that the 1990s ended on September 11th, 2001, since it seems that our whole country was greatly effected by that event. I think that's how many people will look at it much how, as people have already mentioned, that many feel the culture of the 60s didn't start until after the Kennedy assasination, or the 40s didn't start until after Pearl Harbor.